Improvement in washing-machines



J. DONALDSON.

WASHING-MACHINE.

No.185.631. Patented Dec.26, 1876.

; D STATES PATENT QFFICE JOHN DONALDSON, or ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN WASHING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. [85,631, dated December 26, 1876; application filed August 25, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN DONALDSON, of

' the city of Rockford, in the county of Winneface is of concave form, composed of journaled rollers placed in a suds-box, and a vibrating rubbing-surface suspended above the concave roller-surface, to receive the articles to be washed between the surface, in contact with the water in the suds-box; and consists in the devices and combination of devices, which I now proceed to explain.

In the figures, A represents a suds-box, which, in plan, is of rectangular form with flaring ends, and is deepest in the center of its length, for the purpose of causing the sediment to settle in the center, under the concave, from which it maybe drawn by means of any suitable opening for the purpose. This suds-box is supported on legs B, near its ends, one pair of which are connected by a crossbar, a, near their lower ends. Curved metallic plates b, fitted with cup-bearings c, are secured in place to the inner sides of the sudsbox, at a proper distance from its bottom.

The concave washing-surface is composed of rollers 61, the journals of which are fitted to revolve in the cup-bearing c in the curved plates b. O is a rubbing-board, corrugated on its under side, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and is connected to the rock-shaft D by posts 0, forming a frame, which is provided with a handle, E, supported by wire brackets f, connected to the rubbing board and the rock-shaft. This frameis suspended over the suds-box by means of the rock-shaft, the journaled bearings of which rest in the curved boxes in the free ends of the curved platein the center of a circle of which the concave washing-surface is a segment, and are of such construction and placed in such a manner as to hold the rubbingboard suspended above the concave washing-surface in a flexible manner, to admit of a vertical, a horizontal lengthwise, and an oscillatory movement of the rockshaft, to permit the rubbing-board to adapt itself to the inequalities and different thicknesses of the goods to be washed.

G are bars, which loop onto the outer ends of the rock-shaft, from which they depend, passing through directing-loops g, and are connected at their lower ends by a crosswise bar, h, looped into the depending bars G in the same manner as the bars are looped onto the rock-shaft. H is a treadle, connected centrally to the cross-bar h by a pivot-bolt, its rear end extending under the cross-bar a, and its forward end extending in front of the suds-box, to receive the foot of the operator.

In operating my improved washer, the suds is placed in the box, and the clothes to be washed are placed on theconcave washingsurface in the suds-box. Then the operator with his foot, by means of the treadle, forces the rubbing-board 0 down on the clothes, and, by means of the handle E, impart-s to the rubbing-board a vibrating motion, which moves the clothes to and fro on the concave washing-surface, in contact with the suds or Washing-fluid, in which operation the springs E permit of both a vertical and a horizontal lengthwise movement, so that the rubbingboard can adapt itself to any inequalities in thegoods in the washing. In washing larger articles, the position of the goods is readily shifted toward either end of the suds-box by permitting the rubbing-board to rise, and then moving it over the goods toward either end of the concave washing-surface, and then, by means of the treadle, force it in contact with the goods to be washed. These, therefore, I do not claim.

I claim as my invention- In a washing-machine, substantially as described, the combination of the treadle H, bars G, rubbing-frame, and springs F, these parts constructed, arranged, and operating as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN DONALDSON.

Witnesses:

A. O. BEHEL, E. J. BEHEL. 

